A Yahoo! for BharatMatrimony

Fundings from Venture Capitalists not only bring in the much-needed capital and credibility, but also serve as a great lure for skilled talent-pool. The BharatMatrimony group has astutely reaped the benefits of VC funding.


Funding and capital are like oxygen for any organisation and it could not be any different for the BharatMatrimony group as well. The group kicked off operations in 1997, with BharatMatrimony.com as their first portal. Our online portal started to gain momentum from 1998 onwards, but in the initial stages, we did not look for many funding options because of the business model that we had adopted. We were very clear about that and from the day one itself we have followed a subscription based model, wherein we used to charge around Rs.300 for the subscription. Whatever money we were earning, we were ploughing it right back into the business.

The first round of funding in the Consim Info Pvt. Ltd. (which houses brands like BharatMatrimony.com, clickjobs.com, indiaproperty.com) came from Yahoo! and Canaan Partners, which invested $8.65 million in the group. In this case, it was Yahoo! who approached the group. We welcomed the move as Yahoo! is a global player and we felt that this association would fetch us a lot of recognition. Also in this case, Yahoo! was not just getting money and capital for us, but also becoming a strategic partner in the business. The matrimonial and property services offered by Yahoo! are all powered by the BharatMatrimony group.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Private equity is a creative mode of financing

Private equity is a creative mode of financing and investors invest with the aim to exit to earn profits. Ajay Kapur (CEO, SIDBI Venture Capital) adds, “The investors values the investee on comparable multiples and more so where the investee company is likely to witness growth by the time the investor wishes to exit. A clear exit strategy and possible mechanism are prime considerations.” There are few ethical investors who do not invest in companies, which in the near future, might compete with their existing investments. This stands out to be an important parameter for selection of startups. The investments are often followed by efforts at streamlining to revive the loss-making companies or substantially improving the performance of profit-making ones. Since private equity companies derive their returns from the appreciation in the value of the acquired asset or company, they ensure that they offer much more than financial assistance in terms of the offering they bring on the board. These efforts are aimed at adding value to the investments before the private equity investors can exit.

However, after the dotcom bubble, and given the risks, hard work and patience to earn returns, there is some form of reluctance on the part of the investors to invest in a start-ups. Many analysts are of the opinion that unless there is an overcrowding in the PE space or else the pricing becomes unattractive, most investors are not likely to revert to early-stage deals.

The industry certainly thrives on a disparity of views, but nevertheless it’s continually growing. In the present financing scenario, it is all the more important than ever to have a business plan, pitch and value proposition even before the investee companies hold talks with potential investors. Any investee company with a potential, a committed and experienced management with sound track record, capacity and organisational skills to implement business plans into actions can easily grab the attention of the PE biggies. The investors on their part gain exposure to specific markets by being specialists.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Golden handshakes

Get savvy about the biggest private equity deals over the last year, the biggest dealmakers and what Venture Capitalists look for when zeroing in on potential start-ups! Also in this package, meet the stalwarts at Saif Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners to get a grip on their India strategy. Plus, columns by entrepreneurs who made it big with timely PE investments...


Remember the March 2005 $560 million Warbug Pincus – Bharti Tele-ventures deal? In total, Warbug Pincus infused $300 million into the company and by the time the Private Equity (PE) firm exited Bharti Tele-ventures, it had mopped up a staggering $1.3 billion. Overnight this deal thumb tacked India as a Mecca for global PE investments. Not that PE players did not operate in India before this, but Warbug’s bulging back pocket at the time of exit did take the lid off India as a hot PE destination. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, merely glance at how the value of PE deals skyrocketed between 2005 and 2007. From $2,183 million in 2005, total value of deals jumped to a staggering $17.4 billion in 2007 (see table), an increase of a jaw dropping 744%.

Interestingly, while PE investments and Venture Capital (VC) funding are clearly demarcated propositions in the USA (where VC funding only refers to investments in early stage and expanding companies); in Europe, VC funding covers all stages. Traditionally, PE players can be described as firms that invest in companies, which already have some revenue base and have future growth potential via restructuring or bringing in new products, services and technology.

However, a cross-section of market watchers opine that in emerging markets like India, the distinction between the two is increasingly blurring and both these terms are used synonymously and as proxies. According to Harish H V of Grant Thornton, “In India, PE is understood as capital being invested typically through a LP (Limited Partnership) structure by domestic and international institutions to take reasonable stakes in unlisted and listed companies through private placement and also buyouts.” For the purpose of this listing of the biggest deals in India over the last year, we will use the term Private Equity to describe the industry in its entirety.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Being a part of the Munjal Group has been of great advantage for HMIL, which tries to constantly innovate its functions to suit its clients. Unlike any other MNC, they prefer to work as one big family. And like any other Indian family, HMIL too stands for strong values. According to George, “Values help in making the environment friendly and infuses feelings of unity amongst the employees.” Coupled with this, is the transparency within the organisation, whereby each employee knows what is going on in the organisation. Apart from the customary celebrations during birthdays & anniversaries, there is a party at the end of each month to acknowledge the achievements of the employees. “We clap as a team when a good job is done.” Team claps are a good way to motivate the employees as everybody gathers in what the company calls the ‘Bay’ (refers to a common place in the office) and everyone claps for any and every job that is well done.

In the era of cut-throat competition and in an industry where human force is your greatest weapon, you need talented people to succeed. In such a scenario, it becomes imperative to retain key talent and attrition has forever been eclipsing the dream run for the Indian BPO sector. When we quizzed George, he stated, “Due to talent shortage, attrition will continue to be a challenge. At HMIL, we’ve created initiatives like open door policy, an HR help desk and continuous training programmes.” There are many training programmes that help employees to sharpen their knowledge base. George adds, “We’ve an outbound training programme, wherein we take employees to places like Udaipur. Outbound training helps employees to enhance their risk-taking abilities, understanding each other and taking ownership of a programme.”

Surely, small initiatives like these help in making an organisation stand out for not only its strong HR philosophies, but also for its strong HR vision. HMIL too has put in place a very strong HR vision for the company and that in George’s words is: “We share a passion to build a HMIL brand, focused on individual and business needs to achieve organisational excellence as a sustainable competitive advantage.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Chatpati chutney storms online space...

Chatpati chutney storms online space...


Display advertising, direct marketing, ATL, BTL, promotion campaigns… doesn’t it sound a tad too clichéd? Moving out of run-of-the-mill advertising and creating a new wave in the media space is a concept called viral marketing. And one of the pioneers in spreading this virus in India is a chatpati agency – Webchutney. Founded in 1999 by two ex-Grey Worldwide employees – Siddharth Rao (CEO) & Sudesh Samaria (Chairman cum NCD), Webchutney is a typical full service interactive agency, just that they operate in the online space.

So how did Webchutney catch the viral marketing fever? Reminisces Rahul Nanda, COO, Webchutney, “In 1995, Internet got a thrust in India & everyone started forwarding power-point files, chain letters, jokes, et al. That was also a form of viral marketing. However, Webchutney pioneered the creativity around it. We gave it a flavour of animation and used it as a business proposition for our clients.” A viral may be text, animation or a film, which is forwarded from one person to another via chain e-mails. One of the first few virals created by Webchutney was the Chidiya Udi viral for travel portal Makemytrip.com (MMT).

But given the newness of the media and the medium, are clients receptive to accepting this brand of viral innovation in their marketing plans. Nanda gives the case in point of MMT. “They gave us the entire creative freedom. They were aware of the fact that when you start a viral marketing project, you just have an idea. But to spend a humongous amount of money on just one statement, build it into an animation and then make it successful is a big thing. For this you need the client to be as creative and brave as the agency.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus